Add Category
A peak tourism body says towns across WA's Wheatbelt can no longer rely on the annual wildflower season to draw in tourists.
Tourism within the Wheatbelt has grown 1,000 per cent over the past decade according to statistics from regional tourism body North Eastern Wheatbelt Travel (NEWTRAVEL).
The group attributed the success to the marketability of key attractions including Wave Rock and the native wildflowers.
But tourism officer Linda Vernon said statistics showed a clear peak in wildflower season, meaning this year's dry conditions could pose a problem.
"Our peak season is the wildflower season of July to October, which sees most of our tourists come from metropolitan areas to the Wheatbelt," Ms Vernon said.
"We want to be able to expand our peak tourism season from March through to October without relying solely on the wildflowers attracting people to our region."
She said the prospect of a third straight poor wildflower season had dented the confidence of some local operators.
Winter rainfall critical
Wildflower Society of Western Australia president Brett Loney said the upcoming wildflower season would be highly dependent on rain across the Wheatbelt throughout June and July.
"The vegetation will have to recover from its heat stress if we get good rains, but some plants will take the opportunity to flower and set seed to prepare for recovery from the hot dry spell," he said.
"Reports I have received is that the vegetation in many areas has browned off in response to the heat and lack of normal rainfall.
"It will be interesting to see just how the vegetation responds to these initial rains and if the plants green up in response."
Towns need to be confident
Ms Vernon said many Wheatbelt residents lacked confidence in the appeal of their towns to visitors.
"The biggest piece of feedback we receive from tourists who visit the Wheatbelt is that they first and foremost love interacting with locals," she said.
"People living in our towns often underestimate the unique experiences and opportunities we can pass on to visitors."
She said there was an opportunity to take a simple approach to tourism.
"Think about when you have friends from the city coming to visit your property — you put on a spread of local produce, you go for a walk in nature and end the night with a campfire," she said.
"Why can't we be giving tourists on a larger scale that same experience, using what we already have on offer?"
Flowers still a key drawcard
Wildflower tourism remains a major stopping point for visitors to Mukinbudin, 300 kilometres east of Perth.
Annual wildflower tours run by the Mukinbudin Community Resource Centre (CRC) attract up to 30 bookings from travellers keen for an expert-led outing.
Even in last year's drier season, more than 6,500 visitors were recorded across the region.
But CRC coordinator Jessica McCartney said the back-to-back dry seasons had prompted a pivot to other offerings.
"Out in the Wheatbelt we are quite resilient when it comes to the lack of rain, so the wildflowers are no exception," she said.
"After some tough years we knew we had to do more to keep people coming back.
"We used to focus on orchids and everlastings but realised that we couldn't rely on them flowering year after year so expanded to including all types of native flora, as well as incorporating a meal around the local gnamma holes put on by the pub."
Ms McCartney said the region's other natural attractions meant plenty remained on offer for visitors.
Get our local newsletter, delivered free each Thursday